Posts Tagged by Rick Sikes
About Rick Sikes, Contributor to “Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies” – Renewables and Clean Transportation at the Municipal Level
| August 1, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Rick Sikes manages the vehicle fleet for the City of Santa Monica – a municipality that has taken quite a progressive stance with respect to environmental stewardship. Rick did a great job in our conversation that became the book’s chapter called: Renewables and Clean Transportation at the Municipal Level.
Back in the late 1970′s early 1980′s the oil embargo from OPEC hit — there were actually two incidents way back then — everybody was affected by the same things, lines at the gas stations, and so forth. And yes, Santa Monica is progressive, and wanted to do its part. So we started looking at alternative fuel vehicles and REFP — Reduced Emissions Fuels Policy. They started buying some propane as a lot of people did, and natural gas, ethanol and whatever else was out there. In 1984 we had the first city Reduced Emissions Fuels Policy, and then about 1998, the city began a sustainability plan. And what you see here today is simply an extension of that plan.
Electric Vehicle Safety
| January 24, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Jim Stack writes in:
Nissan is taking care of this for EVeryone with their new Nissan LEAF. It’s made in the far east, Smyrna Tennesse …. They are much safer that gas cars; you don’t die from fires when gas explodes or burns after an accident…
Jim: I’m with you all the way.
I was down in Santa Monica a couple of weeks ago interviewing Rick Sikes (their fleet manager) for my book on renewables. If you didn’t know, Santa Monica is an extremely progressive city in a lot of ways – and one of them is the city fleet, which is 87% alternatively fueled.
In any case, I saw all those tanks of CNG, propane, and hydrogen, and I asked about safety. In his answer, which I found more than satisfactory, he pointed out that, on average, 6 people burn to death in gasoline-powered vehicle fires every day. It’s a phenomenon so common that we don’t even report it — like cats getting stuck up in trees.
Model for Clean Transportation – Santa Monica
| December 11, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I want my book on renewables to feature a few chapters on the public sector – what our government at various levels is doing to promote clean transportation and energy. To knock out the piece on municipalities, this morning I’m on my way to interview Rick Sikes, the manager of the fleet of the city of Santa Monica (CA).
I may have mentioned that I moderated a panel discussion at the AltCarExpo this fall. Rick was assigned a different panel — and he certainly has the “creds”: 87% of the fleet he controls is alternative fueled. He was recommended to me as something of a legend among city planners and managers; I’m certainly looking forward to the interview.
